


on a tavern by the riverside (there's a wonder i found)

by somcthingwitty



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Because she deserves a vacation, F/F, Lena Goes Back in Time, Light Angst, Mutant Powers, Red Daughter - Freeform, Sort of? - Freeform, Time Travel, Time traveler, post-reveal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 01:39:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19842883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somcthingwitty/pseuds/somcthingwitty
Summary: “What are you doing here?” Lena exhaled quietly, shakily, as she tightened her hold around her tumbler’s handle lest she wanted to make a mess of herself on that bar.“Well, just like you,” the owner of that stupidly familiar face scrunched up into a playful smile before those lips were covered with a tumbler similar to what Lena was holding. “I am drinking in a tavern by the river while—” a pause as the owner glanced at musicians, a familiar melody, slow and seemingly full of agony, taking over the earlier cheer of the customers. “— my friend plays Monti’s famous piece. There must visitors from the neighboring land.”Lena placed her tumbler on the counter, hand still shaking and eyes still locked on the woman’s face.“How did you find me?”orLena meets a new friend, goes time traveling with said friend, and sees the same face she is trying to escape in 1938.





	on a tavern by the riverside (there's a wonder i found)

**Author's Note:**

> I just can't seem to stop writing Supercorp, so here we go again! This is a very random idea I started writing yesterday. I initially wanted to keep it a oneshot, but as I wrote, more ideas came to me and I figured, well, why not make it three chapters?
> 
> So, here it goes! I hope you enjoy it. Any inaccuracy or grammatical error is my fault. I hope I do not offend anyone!

In Lena’s quest to put as much distance between Kara and her, Lena somehow found herself on a journey to another timeline with a new friend.

Her name was Antoinette Colin, who preferred to go by Colin. She didn’t say much about herself. All Lena knew was that she came from a family of four and that she was an exchange student from France with a knack for science and time traveling.

And not in the _time machine_ sort of way, because Colin was the time machine _herself_.

Ever since she was introduced to the world of aliens because of Lex’s fixation on Superman, she had ceased to be surprised by anything that was fairly out of this world. So, when she used the bathroom at a Science convention and saw a woman partially disappear in front of her eyes, Lena barely batted her eyelashes.

She just stood her, the slightest bit of shock from the fact that she’d seen someone disappear and reappear before her, and blinked languidly because --- well, was she in danger? Was that woman going to evaporate into thin air to make it easier to kill Lena Luthor?

The answer was no. Colin had visibly panicked at getting caught, materializing once again into her solid form, but Lena was quick to reassure her that she wasn’t going to tell anybody at all.

She wasn’t like her brother.

And Lena was gentle with her. Lena did her best to make her feel safe by keeping her distance and even offering to leave her alone in the bathroom, so she could go back to her business.

But Colin didn’t let her.

Instead, for some weird reason, in that same bathroom, Colin opened up to her --- told her that she was a mutant who could go back in time, in whatever period she’d like to visit.

And it was time traveling. Of course, Lena was intrigued.

One coffee invitation led to more friendly meetups, and soon, Lena found herself a new friend in Colin.

One night, during a casual wine-sharing at her apartment, Colin brought up her favorite movie: The Sound of Music. Lena quickly informed her that she had a copy of it, assuming that Colin wanted to watch it with her, but instead, Colin laughed and dismissed the offer with a quiet laugh.

_“No,” she said, still laughing. “I was going to ask if you’d like to visit Salzburg in 1938 with me.”_

Everyone knew how dark Salzburg was in 1938… and yet.

Truth be told, it was a very much needed distraction in her life. She needed to stay away from National City; from Kara or Supergirl, really. She needed time away from the very person she once thought she could never part herself from.

Kara --- _Supergirl_ \--- was once the only person who brought comfort in her otherwise stressful life. She once was the only reason for the smile on her face; the laughter in her chest, and the crinkles in her eyes.

She was once her best friend and while the heroine probably thought nothing had changed between them since Lex’s death, Lena wasn’t sure if she could still view the girl as her best friend.

She’d said it before, and she’d say it again: she would never enter a friendship with someone who’d already breached her trust.

And it pained her to think so. It pained her to see Kara’s messages bombarding her phone; to see all the missed calls and the alarmingly growing number of voicemails, and to block Supergirl’s attempt at contacting her by having her balcony demolished. It was even painful to deny Alex’s invitation to the DEO to check out some of the weapons they’d recently developed — and to think she once hated visiting the DEO for whatever reason.

So, when Colin asked her again if she was willing to join her, Lena didn’t hesitate to give her affirmation.

Maybe a trip to another timeline would do her well in terms of keeping her mind off of her potential descent to villainy.

.

.

.

That night, Lena went home early, surprising both herself and Jess, to prepare for her time travel.

“Early night, Miss Luthor?” Jess asked when she came out of her office with her bag and jacket.

It was only seven in the evening.

“I’m afraid so, Jess,” Lena replied, and then rolled her eyes with a hint of a smile on her lips when Jess pursed her lips --- obviously, it wasn’t something Jess was opposed of.

“I would ask, but…”

Lena chuckled quietly while shaking her head. “Perhaps, it’s best that you don’t ask.”

Jess returned her smile, clearly having the wrong assumption as to why she was leaving early, and Lena felt just a little bit guilty for not informing her assistant – the only person who hadn’t betrayed her so far. “Well, I hope you enjoy your night, Miss Luthor.”

“Thank you, Jess,” Lena nodded and turned to leave. “You should go, too.”

“I will.”

The drive towards home was quiet. Henry didn’t say much. He never did, really, and it was something Lena was always grateful for.

It always gave her the time to think --- to take in her current situation and think of ways to make it better, but tonight was different. Her mind was blank aside from the consistent reminder that she was about to travel from one timeline to another, and if that wasn’t exciting then she didn’t know what was.

For once, in the past two years, she was going to do something that didn’t have anything to do with the caped heroine – that didn’t have anything _otherworldly_ which involved the Superfriends.

When she felt the car cease, Lena snapped out of her thoughts and glanced outside with a sigh. She waited until Henry was opening the door for her before whispering, “Thank you, Henry.”

Henry tipped his head. “Have a good evening, Miss Luthor.”

“You, too.”

Colin was supposed to arrive in an hour or so. Of course, she was going to have a good evening.

.

.

.

“Lena.”

Lena immediately felt her energy drain out of her body when she heard that familiar voice as soon as she stepped out of the elevator. Of course, Kara would take this opportunity to ambush her in her own home.

She must have heard Lena saying goodbye to Jess all the way from Catco.

How odd and definitely inhumane.

Exhaling quietly, Lena stopped in her tracks and turned to Kara, lips pursed tightly as she crossed her arms across her chest. “Kara,” she said quietly. “What brings you here?”

The reporter fiddled with her fingers as she took one step closer to Lena, which made Lena scream inside her head --- beg the blonde woman to stay where she was --- but Lena showed no indication of her panic. Instead, she stayed rooted in her place and looked Kara directly into her eyes.

She considered it a small victory when Kara couldn’t seem to meet her gaze.

“I, uh,” Kara paused to chuckle nervously. “I mean, I was just thinking--- I thought, maybe, I’d find you here.” The reporter exhaled heavily once more as she dropped her hands and finally looked up at Lena. “I haven’t seen you since game night. You haven’t been answering my texts and calls and --- Alex, you haven’t been responding to her as well, so…” Pursing her lips, Kara cleared her throat and smiled timidly. “I got worried, so I came here to check on you.”

Lena tried to keep her heart from beating even faster and louder than it already was, knowing that Kara was capable of hearing it, but if the way Kara was glancing downwards every now and then was anything to go by, Lena was clearly failing at doing so. Here was Kara, acting all skittish, so hesitant, as if she was sure that the timid act was going to convince Lena to go easy on her.

Any other day, she would have. She’d always found _this_ Kara Danvers to be so endearing – so adorable. She adored Kara’s shyness and constant flustered state.

But that wasn’t Kara, was it? Kara Danvers was Supergirl, the same woman who seemed to have forgotten the times she insisted that Lena Luthor was good after finding out that Lena made Kryptonite. A complete wipe of the memory, just like that.

Kara Danvers, Supergirl, went from defending Lena to her friends to leading the parade of people doubting Lena’s innocence. She went from respecting Lena’s privacy to asking one of her friends to break into her vault. She went from separating Lena from her last name to _actually_ associating her with the madness that was the Luthor Family.

Irritation bloomed from within and soon, Lena found herself scoffing quietly, disguised by a smile. “Well, I’m here and you’ve seen me. I’m fine,” she said, head tilting slightly to the side. “I left work early to get some rest.”

“Oh,” Kara nodded a few times, even as her face showed her unease towards Lena’s coldness to her. “T-That’s good! I’m glad you’re taking earlier nights nowadays. I’m… yeah, I’m glad.”

“Is that all?” She quirked an eyebrow.

Kara pursed her lips but nodded. “Y-Yes,” she bit her lip. “I… I will see you tomorrow? For lunch, I hope?”

Lena sighed inwardly. She should have known Kara wouldn’t give up so easily.

“I’ll let you know.”

.

.

.

Lena was checking the time on her watch when her doorbell went off. 

With an almost giddy smile, Lena went to open the door – of course, she checked who was outside first. One, especially a Luthor, could never be too sure.

“Colin!” Lena greeted with a huge grin and immediately went in for a hug. “Took you long enough.”

Colin laughed as she wrapped her arms around Lena in return. “Damn it, woman, contain your excitement.”

“Can you really blame me?”

“I guess, I can’t,” Colin exhaled while grinning. “I’m so excited, too! What did you prepare?”

Lena glanced at her bed where she’d placed some of the essentials she might need for the travel: laptop, tablet, some clothes, and her phone, but one look from Colin was all it took for her to realize that she won’t be needing them at all – especially because they weren’t appropriate for 1938.

Right. _1938._ Complete immersion. Got it.

“You think you’re funny, don’t you?” Colin deadpanned before sparing a look at Lena’s outfit, a smile slowly curling along her lips. “Well, don’t you look familiar?”

“I did say that I _can_ sort of relate with Baroness Schraeder,” Lena shrugged, and then stood close to Colin, placing her hands over the latter’s when she brought them up. “Ready?”

Colin grinned. “Always.”

.

.

.

Somewhere along the way, something went wrong.

One moment, Lena was holding Colin’s hands, and then next, she found herself all alone in a small, roadside tavern in Salzburg, nursing a mug of funny-tasting beer.

Well, not exactly in that particular order.

She’d ended up in an empty theater first, which she later on realized was the Felsenreitschule, recognizing it from that particular scene where the Trapp Family sang together for the public. She ended up there all alone, with no Colin on sight, with no pair of hands holding her own, _with nothing_ but her clothes on.

Thank God for her initiative to practically cosplay Baroness Schraeder.

The theater was empty save for the occasional people sweeping the floor and maintain the cleanliness of the chairs, so she took her time to explore first despite her growing panic about being left alone in 1938. Or, well, the concern about her friend.

Where was Colin?

Probably out there, in one of the streets of Salzburg, looking for her, as well.

It was the very thought that convinced her to leave the theater and walk ten minutes towards the Salzach River. Not that the latter was her actual destination, but she hadn’t exactly expected to get lost in Salzburg, so she wasn’t prepared – failed to orient herself with the map of Salzburg beforehand. She’d thought that she could explore the place with Colin — get lost _with_ Colin, but no, she was all alone, so she decided to follow a couple of young children, overhearing their excitement about watching their paper boats float down the river—

And that’s how she ended up entering a tavern by the riverside, _essen und trinken_ written across the doorframe.

The tavern was just like how she imagined it to be. There was a bearded man playing the violin next to a pianist to her left, the customers all nursing their own respective drinks and nibbling on their food. There are a few people dancing on the small clearing in front of the piano, and it was fun. It seemed fun.

It was enough to take her mind off of her worries over her friend, so she walked over to the wooden bar and sat down on one of the stools. She ordered a tumbler of whatever type of beer was available in the house and was offered what was probably the cheapest of them all.

It must be the dress — with Lena looking like a member of the highest society. The barista must have been mocking her, but she dismissed it with a mouthful of beer, a satisfied smirk appearing on her face at the look of shock on the barista’s face.

 _Take that_.

“Impressive.”

Lena turned to the owner of the voice and froze in place. Her fingers trembled, however; as she took in a familiar shade of blue on a pair of painfully familiar eyes; the familiar shade of blonde hair --- so unlike Colin’s platinum blonde --- and the easy smile on that face as its owner transferred to the stool right next to Lena’s.

“What are you doing here?” Lena exhaled quietly, shakily, as she tightened her hold around her tumbler’s handle lest she wanted to make a mess of herself on that bar.

“Well, just like you,” the owner of that stupidly familiar face scrunched up into a playful smile before those lips were covered with a tumbler similar to what Lena was holding. “I am drinking in a tavern by the river while—” a pause as the owner glanced at musicians, a familiar melody, slow and seemingly full of agony, taking over the earlier cheer of the customers. “— my friend plays Monti’s famous piece. There must visitors from the neighboring land.”

Lena placed her tumbler on the counter, hand still shaking and eyes still locked on the woman’s face.

“How did you find me?”

**Author's Note:**

> What are our thoughts? 
> 
> Tumblr: @somcthingwitty


End file.
